Krim Steinbelt
was a scientist who invented and is conscious within the , affectionately nicknamed by his user, Shinnosuke Tomari. He acts as a monitor for the Shift Brace when Shift Cars are used in his transformation bracelet. Aside from being able to control the Tridoron remotely, he can also use the Type-changing Shift Cars as his own body, allowing him to effectively be in five places at once. History Mr. Belt was once Krim Steinbelt, the man who created the Core Driviars for the Shift Cars and the Tridoron. He assisted his friend Professor Banno in developing the Roidmudes after they hit a wall in development by giving them Core Driviars. However, they went out of control and began harming humanity instead of helping it. He resolved to stop them by using contingencies including the equipment used by Drive, but his home was attacked by the first three Roidmudes attacked his mansion, with his body being killed by Heart. Thus, he transferred his consciousness to the Drive Driver, and continued his fight by aiding Drive. He was present for the beginning of the Global Freeze and the rise and fall of Proto Drive. He used the Roidmude Protozero as his user, but found that he was incapable of destroying cores. Following Protozero's supposed death and despite being haunted by dreams of his past life, Mr. Belt continued to supervise the upgrades to the Drive system and scouted out a new candidate, finding one in forlorn, depressed super cop Shinnosuke Tomari. After revealing himself as the source of Tridoron's "Voice", Mr. Belt received his name and gained his new warrior in Shinnosuke. From then on, he would teach the young man all about the Roidmudes, the Shift Cars and what it meant to be the warrior Drive. Later when Drive was about the face Heart for the first time, he demands the rider and Kiriko to retreat from the opponent as the belt reveals his past to Shinnosuke back in the Drive Pit. Taking Shinnosuke to his destroyed mansion and giving him more info about his past, Heart arrives to fight them. However, Mr. Belt still have fears of the Roidmude but Shinnosuke decides to fight the monster without hesitation. While fighting, the belt notice that Heart have become stronger from before as the latter would perform the deadliest attack: the Dead End. Heart performs the Dead End on Drive as the rider is willing to sacrifice himself. Drive would plan to get Mr. Belt away from the attack so he can find a new user, but the latter refuses. A moment later, Chase appears to save Heart as they believe that Drive is gone. Being saved by the Shift Cars, Shinnosuke was critically injured and Mr. Belt becomes irate about his action. However due to Shinnosuke's action from the battle, this reminded Mr. Belt why he built Tridoron. When the Roidmude guardian Chase/Mashin Chaser appeared, Mr. Belt realised that his appearance and powers were themed after Proto-Drive, the first Drive. Ever since then, Krim doubted and curious of what Chase had in relation with Proto-Drive. This wasn't until the Special Investigation Unit's Christmas Eve ceremony, Mr. Belt (through the Shift Cars) witnessed Chase's Roidmude form and number, 000 and he finally realised that his long dead comrade had mysteriously sided with the Roidmudes. Personality "Mr. Belt" is an elegant individual, guiding Shinnosuke as he adapts and learns more about being Drive. He is very smart, having been the inventor of the Drive Driver, and his intelligence manifests in often adding English to his sentences. He often makes puns about driving like Kiriko, and though he is often cool, calm and collected, he becomes hot-blooded in battle. However, he is not without a dark side. Considering his past life as Steinbelt, Mr. Belt is very driven to fight the Roidmudes. He often prefers to keep secrets from Shinnosuke and everyone he knows (Rinna as his third assistant, Go Shijima, Kiriko's little brother as the candidate for a new Rider System) despite having themselves as trustworthy allies, which angered them further. Since Heart was the one whom killed him, Banno and Proto-Drive (which later revealed to be alive), Mr. Belt developed a fear towards him and if Drive and Kiriko would come to face him, he would order them to retreat. Despite being regressed into a transformation belt, he still possess several human traits, as shown he was able to sleep and dream of his past life. Functionality Unlike other conventional drivers, the Drive Driver only acts as a sensor, while the actual activation for the Shift Cars are performed on the . This does not detract at all from Mr. Belt's role, however. He can remotely control Tridoron and the Shift Cars on his own to provide reinforcements for Shinnosuke. If he needs a more "hands-on" approach to communication and reconnaissance, he can directly control any of the Type Change Shift Cars. Once enough tires have been summoned by Drive, Mr. Belt can command all of them to fly towards the enemy with the command . Behind the Scenes Portrayal Krim Steinbelt, who is also the consciousness of the Drive Driver is portrayed by Chris Peppler. Conception The Drive Driver has been noted by producer Takahito Omori as Drive's version of , the automobile housing an artificial intelligence in the TV series , keeping with Drive's description as 'Kamen Rider meets Knight Rider'.Translated version of the Interview from the "Kamen Rider Drive Staff Cross Talk" Magazine Scan Notes *Steinbelt's surname contains the syllabic representation for the word , which is also a nickname given to the Drive Driver. **This is confirmed in-universe in episode 10, when Shinnosuke quips "Mr Belt wasn't a bad nickname after all" after the Drive Driver reveals he used to be Krim Steinbelt. *The Drive Driver resembles a car's speedometer and parts of a dashboard, while its straps resemble a seat belt. *This is the first Neo-Heisei transformation belt that is able to speak with its user. **It is the third sentient belt in the entire Heisei era, with the Masked Rider System's Zecters being the first and the Kivat-bat Family being the second. ***He is also the second sentient belt that is able to verbally communicate with his Rider, as the Zecters were incapable of human speech, except in Kamen Rider Kabuto: Birth! Gatack Hyper Form!. * Due to his actor being fluent in English, Mr. Belt often injects English words and phrases into his sentences, such as Exactly or Absolutely. External Links *TV Asahi's page on the Drive Driver Mr. Category:Drive Characters Category:Allies Category:Deceased Characters Category:Transformation Belt Category:Transformation Gear Category:Arsenal (Drive) Category:Rider Creator